The Outer Limits (1995) s07e07 Episode Script

1 ZACH: Damn! -PETER: It's good, It's good, -That's it? Just good? Okay, very good, What do you want me to say? Well, I don't know, You could say it's insouciant, Or intense, -Focused, complex, -(GIGGLING) Zach is the wine snob, You should know that by now, Peter, A toast, To a partner who believed in the impossible, And to the hottest little biotech firm in the Valley, We're six months from providing the world with a virtually endless supply of cloned organs, Salute, So, uh, ,, What's the real reason you broke out the insouciant stuff, hmm? You remember how we talked about the only thing standing between us and fully cloned human beings? Oh, please, (CHUCKLES) You know what the laws are against cloning humans, It's 20 years I reckon, that's with a good lawyer, Let's say I'm talking theoretically, What's this all about, Nora? We broke the brain barrier, Peter, Oh, hell, Don't even tell me, We created a neuro-mapper, Hooked to the lab's computer, we can take a cloned brain, ,, Cloning of brains is a federal violation! And give it the same synaptic array that we map from the alpha source, The minds would be absolutely identical! Mmm-hmm, You want to blow this whole program, this whole company out of the water? We have a billion-dollar organ cloning patent within our grasp, -And you want to jeopardize it, -Can't you see past that? Imagine digitally banking the mind of a man before he got Alzheimer's, Then you could restore that mind in a new brain, Just like rebooting a hard drive, Except the surgical techniques to transplant a human brain are God knows how many years away! Right now, the only way to recreate the mind would be to clone the whole person, And that would put you in prison and us out of business! -Peter! -Whatever the program is, I want it shut down, Yesterday, You can't fight the future of science, Pete, No, But I sure as hell can keep it from destroying mine, Do we understand each other? Do we? Yeah, Yeah, understood, Try and talk some sense into your husband, will you, Nora? -Mmm, -Please? Thanks for dinner, -Good night, -Good night, (DOOR SHUTS) I told you this would happen, We never should have told him, Well, we had to, He's not just our partner, he's our friend, What if he goes to the government? He won't, Not without hurting himself, I mean, he's going to be watching us like a hawk now, This could be the last chance we can access the computer, Wait, ,, Wait a minute, Nora, Where are you going? Peter is a businessman, He doesn't care about science, By tomorrow morning we may not have the neuro-mapper, Wait a minute, What are you going to do? Gotta document this procedure before that happens, (BEEP) Nora, we already have the animal studies, I'm not talking about animals, Six months from now the organ replication system will be fully operational, Peter's right, you know? We are taking a big chance with this, And we can't exactly run the neuro-mapping program on your laptop, We created this to map the human brain, We're just speeding up our timetable, We haven't fully tested it yet, Damn it! We did not come all this way to turn back now, I mean, worst thing that happens, the download fails, But we'll never know if we can copy the contents of a human brain unless we try! Then I'll be the guinea pig, But you're the only one that knows the control sequence, Relax, If it doesn't work, you can go out with one of those blonde grad students who's been eying you, That isn't funny, Look, I love you, But you know we're doing the right thing, Okay, Hope your storage medium is adequate, I've got a pretty big brain, you know, All right, Stop bragging and hold still, -I love you, -I love you, too, You sure about this? Keep yapping and Peter's gonna walk through the door with the goon squad, -Okay, try to relax, -Okay, NORA: Daddy! (INDISTINCT CHATTER) (SCREAMING) Nora? Oh my God! Nora! Nora, wake up, honey! Come on, talk to me, Nora? Nora! CONTROL VOICE: There is nothing wrong with your television, Do not attempt to adjust the picture, We are now controlling the transmission, We control the horizontal and the vertical, We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond, We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive, For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear, You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to The Outer Limits, God is said to have reached into the firmament and made humankind in his own image, But whose image will be mirrored when we gain the same awesome power? (INDISTINCT CHATTER) And that is Dr, Zachary Griffiths, He and his wife are responsible for most of the proprietary technology that made all this possible, I heard his wife died, Well, actually, she's been in a deep coma ever since a drowning incident a year ago, What are they doing now? That device is the final stage of assembling a new heart, molecule by molecule, cell by cell, Pretty much the way DNA duplicates to form living tissue, Peter's schmoozing another investor, Don't screw this up, Who me? I'm still getting a touch of receptor bias in the nucleotide sequencing, You hear what God said, -If creation was that simple everyone would be doing it, -(CHUCKLES) I am tweaking the gamma, That looks better, -Is it soup yet? -(SCOFFS) Come on, I think we're there, Dr, Meares, please initiate Phase 1, Certainly, ADAM: Activating hydraulics, NORA: We broke the brain barrier, Peter, -I love you, -I love you, too, WOMAN ON PA: Maintenance to room 312, Maintenance to room 312, Hey, sweetie, It's a gorgeous day out there today, It's the kind of day you used to say was too good to be wasted on working (EKG BEEPING) You're still so beautiful, you know that? I mean, I know you'd argue the point but, ,, I miss those arguments, We replicated another heart today, You know, I still have to pinch myself, We take this vat of amino acids and create something more precious than gold or diamonds, It's the ultimate alchemy, And we're doing it, Nora, It's everything we ever dreamed, Everything we ever dreamed, It won't be long now, darling, We're gonna make this happen, I love you, ZACH: Nora and I were planning on two little girls, She always said that with our luck, they'd have my singing voice and her temper, We all miss her, Zach, Not like I do, Adam, I can't go on like this anymore, I need your help, I'm gonna clone her, Run that by me again, I'm gonna clone Nora, I mean, we can do it now, When we began this program two years ago, we, ,, We archived the body scans of a dozen volunteers, including Nora and myself, -All right, that takes care of her body, but you, ,, -It's all right, Adam, Nora didn't go into a coma because of a pool accident, That was just a story I concocted, We were working on something secretly, A neural mapping system, We tried it on Nora, A moment after her engrams downloaded, something happened, I found out later it was because the circuits were overloaded, The machine red-lined and she had a seizure, But her engrams are in the computer, So you really would be replicating Nora, mind and all, If it worked, the clone would wake up with exactly the same mental state that Nora had the instant the replicator short-circuited, This is insane, She's the only woman I've ever loved, Adam, I want her back, -Does Peter know? -You kidding? -He'd have our heads, -Or am I missing something? I mean, how would you keep this clone, the second Nora a secret? For months now, the doctors have been asking me to, ,, Pull the plug on Nora's life support, I was just gonna take her home and say I wanted her to die with dignity, And when she does, that's when you bring out the copy, Doctors would call it a miraculous recovery, Nobody would, ,, Nobody would be the wiser, Lab rats are one thing, Zach, Talk about playing God, Just tell me you'll help me, Adam, Please? Adam, I was afraid you weren't, ,, -Peter, hey! -Zach, Burning the night oil again, huh? Well, I just thought I'd do a couple of runs of these new protocols, you know, make sure there's no bugs, Well, that's the kind of dedication that got us where we are, How's the number-crunching coming? Well, unless I miss my bet, we are on our way to becoming obscenely rich, I thought we hit that threshold months ago, -Is everything all right? -Sure, why? We're not putting any undue pressure on your team, are we, -doubling the projected output? -No, we're okay, Good, Good, Anyway, I'm late for a round of drinks, There's an investment banker who wants to fund the expansion, Happy courting, Good night, Zach, Adam, You don't let that man work you too hard, huh? It's too late for that, Good night, I wasn't sure you were gonna show up, To tell you the truth, neither was I, Initiating the plasma infusion now, Downloading bio-scan, Come on, Come on, That's it, She's breathing, She's breathing, -Get her out of there, Adam, -Activating hydraulics, Initiate the neuro-matrix uploader, Initiating uploader, NORA: Daddy! (INDISTINCT CHATTER) Come back to me Nora, Zach, Nora, Did it work? Did it? ZACH: She doesn't remember much about last night, No, she was really out of it, No, no, the sedative I gave her was really strong, She's still sleeping it off, Let me get back to you, Adam, Oh, what the hell happened to me? Well, you were, ,, You were exhausted, I thought it was best to just let you sleep, Mmm, Feel like I've been backed over by a cement truck, Why you looking at me like that? Oh, the download, Were the engrams captured? I think it's safe to say that the experiment was a complete success, But you don't look very pleased, Oh, of course I am, I couldn't be happier, Zach, why did you take my ring off? What? What, what's going on? There's no easy way to say this, except to just say it, What? What do you think happened last night, that you and I went to Trangenics and downloaded your memory and, ,, That didn't happen at all, What in God's name are you talking about? Do you remember how we used to talk about the, ,, The theoretical possibility of cloning a human, but then giving that clone a complete mental matrix of the original person? Don't patronize me, Zach, I mean, I had to twist your arm to do the experiment, Right, but, ,, You didn't actually take part in that experiment, Not the download part anyway, You're not Nora, You're Nora, ,, You're Nora's clone, Oh! (CHUCKLES) Stop it! Come on! I'm much too out of it for this to be any fun, okay? Just think about it, How would you know? Assuming our procedures went perfectly, if you were Nora's clone, with every bit of her consciousness and all of her memories, How would you know you weren't her? All right, very clever, The epistemology of disproving a negative, Never argue with a summa cum laude who minored in rhetoric, It's 11:30, Did you call Peter and tell him we were coming in late? You aren't hearing me, When Nora underwent the download a year ago, she suffered a seizure Nora is in a coma at Saint Vincent's, Zach, this is a little too perverse, You were my only hope, My only hope in re-uniting with the woman that I loved In every way you are Nora, I mean, someday this will all be purely academic, Zach this joke is going too far okay? When we scanned your body, Nora's body, for the archives, she was two years younger She hadn't had that surgery to remove the benign fibroma from her back, So if I'm really a clone, I won't have a scar on my back, Is that what you're saying? Look in the mirror, It's impossible! (PHONE RINGING) (OPERATOR ANSWERS) Yes, operator, can you please give me the date? OPERATOR: It is April 25th, And what year is it? OPERATOR: What year? Are you serious? I'm serious, What is the year? (OPERATOR REPLIES, INAUDIBLE) I want to see her, Make it fast! (EKG BEEPING) It's okay, ZACH: It's okay, Come on, let's get you out of here before somebody sees you, -Listen, just give me a minute, all right? -What you gonna do? Just wait for me in the car, both of you, Al right, Come on, This was your victory as much as anybody's, Nora, I hope you can forgive me, No matter what happens, no one will ever take your place, Never Dr, Griffiths? Oh! I was just leaving, If you're going to invite visitors, you should really have them checked in at the nurse's station, Of course, (DOOR SHUTS) -What's the matter? -Nothing, You're thinking of her, Have you thought about what this last week has been like for me, Zach? I'm sorry, I don't mean to be insensitive, It's not my choice to be here, it was yours, Yours and Nora's It certainly wasn't Nora's decision, You still miss her even with me here, We just have to be patient, all right? -You're not having second thoughts, are you? -No! No, I am so grateful to have you here, (SCOFFS) Is that the best you can do? Please don't do this, You know there's only one thing that's gonna make this right, As long as there's two of us breathing and, ,, Haunting your dreams and dredging up these memories, ,, My God, this is crazy! Are you saying that you're jealous of yourself? You have to give her up, Zach, I told you, When the time is right, I'm gonna bring her to the house, ,, I don't want her in my house, I want her gone, She is gone, By any real measure, You know, we just made love and you can't even say my name, As long as she's alive I'm not your wife, I'm just a copy, -I can't live like that, -Okay, Okay, I'm sorry, I'll take care of her, -I'll take care of her tomorrow, I promise, -Nora! Please just say my name, I promise, Nora, -Dr, Griffiths, -Yes? -We tried reaching you but, ,, -Oh my God, -Did something happen to Nora? Answer me! -Well, ,, Zach, Oh my God, They said you never lost hope, not once, DR, PASTORE: But we were just as surprised as you were, Dr, Griffiths, But I don't have to tell you how the human brain continues to confound us, Suffice it to say this one's for the medical journals, How soon before I can take her home? Well, fortunately, we've kept up the physical therapy all through these months, So the muscular recovery should be relatively smooth, But we would like to keep her under observation for at least a few more days, -Just to make sure there's no relapse, -Of course, Well, uh, ,, Thank you, Doctor, Well, I'd like to take credit, but I'm afraid you're going to have to go to a higher authority, Did you do it? Something happened, She came out of her coma, She, ,, She just, ,, She just sat up, Her mind clear as a bell, So what happens now? I mean, what happens to me? Nothing, Nothing is gonna happen to you, Oh really? You're just going to have two of us floating around? Do you really think I'm that stupid? Nora, listen to me, I brought you into this world for one reason, because I love you, You don't love me, You love Nora, You love your wife, Not some reasonable facsimile, Don't talk like this, I'm sorry, There's nothing to be sorry for, We'll figure out what to do, When are you gonna bring her home? Soon, A few days, Oh God, It is so great to get out of here, (WHISTLES) A whole week in this place, Actually, it's been more like a year, hasn't it? I'm so glad this nightmare is over, Zach, what's wrong? There's something you need to know, -I can't blame you for hating me, -I don't hate you, I suppose if the situation had been reversed I would have done the same thing, We'll figure out some way to deal with this, What if you can't tell, ,, I mean, you say she's a perfect copy, But what if you can't tell whether you're talking to her or to me? There's differences, They're subtle, but I can tell, We're more than identical twins, Zach, I mean, you gave her my mind, my thought processes, my memories, ,, All based on some rather brilliant science which you'll recall you helped develop, I never considered the consequences, Have you been with her? You don't know what it was like, Nora, Being told I could never get you back, I couldn't bear to lose you that way, So I guess you cheated on death more than you cheated on me, Things were crazy for me, -What are we gonna do? -I don't know, You're just gonna have to trust me, that's all, What choice do I have? I guess I'm ready to go home now, (SCREAMING) Nora, I'd like you to meet Nora, NORA: I'm seeing it, but I'm not believing it, It's like talking to a mirror and the mirror talks back, Zach, can you please give us some time alone? Oh, I don't know, I really think I should be here right now, I'll be in the study, He was never very good at handling one of us, Tell me, what is it like, ,, To have a lifetime of someone else's memories? It's all there? You want to test it, don't you? No, it's just, ,, Yes, (SIGHS) Fire away, -Our honeymoon, -Italy, We drove down the Adriatic to a little beach town, ,, Brindisi, We were gonna take a ship to Piraeus, The weather? 100 degrees and 100% humidity, Zach and I were both sopping wet, He leaned over to kiss me, It tasted like salt, I liked that, This is impossible, I know, -My father, -Mmm, Your father, My father, He didn't just walk out on Mom, He walked out on you, On me, I still remember those feelings, Yeah, Sick, empty feeling of watching someone you love turn and walk away, All those years of not trusting, ,, Not wanting to feel that vulnerable again, And then I found Zach, Or should I say you found him? What, ,, What do you want? I want, ,, What's best for Zach, You have my body, you have my brain, I'm not about to give you my life, We're not exactly the same, you know? Only one of us has been in a coma for the last year, You could have another seizure, Zach could lose you all over again, Is that fair to him? What do you expect me to do? Give up the only man I've ever loved? That's what you're asking me to do! There's one other thing, Zach brought me to life and I think if you ask him, he'll say I did the same for him, She's upstairs sound asleep, I think she took one of your sleeping pills, Well, if she did, she'll be out for hours, You've created a monster, You do realize that, don't you? She's passionate, she's determined, she's not anxious to have anything taken away from her, Remind you of anyone? Are you still gonna find it this amusing when we're being arraigned for violation of the anti-cloning statutes? Nobody knows about this but Adam, What about Peter? You said that he knows you used the replicator, Even if Peter was stupid enough to go to the police, he doesn't have any proof, The only real proof is here in this house, Yeah, well, that's exactly my point, How long do you expect to keep this little secret? Okay, we can change the physical similarities with some judicious cosmetic surgery, If I know this woman, and believe me, I do, she's not gonna relinquish her identity without a fight, Do you have a better idea? We could erase her, Are you out of your mind? I don't mean killing her, for God's sake, We can use the neuro-mapper to erase her memory, You want to electronically lobotomize her, is that, ,, I am talking about inducing amnesia, And then what do we do? Just drop her by the side of the road? (SIGHS) We get her as far away from here as possible, Let her start over, There's nothing to say that she can't have a decent life, The only she'll be missing is a memory, My memory, It is me that you love, isn't it? Of course, of course I love you, ZACH: I mean, I only created her so, I wouldn't lose you, NORA: We can go to the lab tonight, Nobody will be there, It will take only about four hours for us to reconfigure the computer, The real question is how the hell do we talk her into the device? Well, we've got sedatives at the lab, Syringes, ,, One shot and she's out cold, She's asleep upstairs, Let's go get the lab set up and then we'll come back and get her, Almost done, Then you can go back to the house and get her, You see that? Yeah, power fluctuation, I'll get it, Oh my God! What have you done? Zach, I couldn't let her take my memories, Don't worry, It's all gonna be okay, Zach! Zach, thank God! -Oh, how long have I been out? -Over three hours, -Three hours! -She knocked you out and came after me, but I managed to inject her instead, -I'm just finished with the settings, -What? I've got the mapper programed to full restore, except for the memory, You'll have to do the control sequence, -Just stop it! -What? -How can I tell? -What? How do, ,, How do I know which one of you is the real Nora? -Honey, ,, -Look, I'm serious! We had a private conversation earlier tonight, We made this plan, do you remember? Okay, what did I suggest to you? Just before you proposed blanking her memory? I believe the phrase was, "The judicious use of cosmetic surgery," You gonna help me or not? What the hell are you doing? Zach, she's a clone, What do you expect her to say? She injected me with something, I mean, of course she's gonna pretend, ,, Shut up! Shut up, both of you! You're physically identical in every way, except for the scar on Nora's back, No, Look, please, Please, Zach, please! Stop! Please just try and understand, I was only doing what you and Nora were gonna do to me, I'm, ,, I'm fighting for my life! Put that down, Nora, You don't wanna do this, See, you called me Nora, (SOBBING) I am Nora, I mean as much as she is, can't you understand that? I can't do this, I can't either, All my life I've looked to science for the answers, But there is no answer to this, is there? Of course, Of course! Of course what? -Hey, it wasn't that funny, -(CHUCKLING) What, that look on your face when you wiped out? -Glad I could entertain, -(GIGGLES) I always wanted to ski the Alps and now I know why, Well, don't get too comfortable, -Remember we go back to the lab on Wednesday, -Mmm, You mean you two are going back, I'm sorry, he didn't mean to sound insensitive, That's okay, Somehow, now I can live with it, -Here you go, sweetie, -Mmm, A toast, -To science, -To science, CONTROL VOICE: The desire to be an individual is one of humankind's deepest longings, surpassed only